


Hiraeth

by Baltic_Breath, Zara_Oez



Series: Z's and Bibi's book rewrites [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Rewrite, F/M, Good Narcissa Black Malfoy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Insert, Slytherin Percy Weasley, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28463304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baltic_Breath/pseuds/Baltic_Breath, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zara_Oez/pseuds/Zara_Oez
Summary: “You’re awake already? It’s so early for you, especially for summer break. Is Ron snoring again?”“Obviously.”“Sweety, you know you don’t have to sleep with Ron all the time, we can just move your bed around. You can always try to sleep with Ginny?”"I know, thanks mum. But who would keep Ron in check if I wasn’t there to throttle him with a pillow?”_Zara Weasley and Alsephina Malfoy have been inseparable since they met at a young age, by pure chance. Now, after years of being best friends, they will finally go to Hogwarts with each other, together with their brothers and the famous Harry Potter, who's been the talk of the wizarding world ever since he turned eleven.They don't know what they got themselves into when they meet and befriend him at the Hogwarts Express on the first day of school, but seven years of chaos, dangerous adventures and the Dark Lord was certainly not what they expected.
Relationships: Arthur Weasley/Molly Weasley, Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), George Weasley/Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy
Series: Z's and Bibi's book rewrites [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084874
Kudos: 2





	1. the girls with no choice

**Author's Note:**

> hello and welcome to our first co-written story!
> 
> it is basically a full rewrite of the books, with added characters here and there.  
> it does keep to the main story of harry most of the time, but is not written with him as the main character.  
> the focus lies more with the wizard-born children, mostly the Weasleys and Malfoys.
> 
> this is a personal project of ours, more so for fun and some joy for ourselves, but we decided to upload it anyway so whoever finds this can enjoy it as much as we do.  
> if you or anyone else read and like it, it was already worth the effort. :)
> 
> the canon storyline happens like usual, so the first few chapters/books of this series will follow the actual books, with (for now) only minor changes here and there.  
> for now, this story will be PG. ratings and warnings will change according to which book we are at.
> 
> and lastly, we wish you all a happy reading.  
> leave kudos or a comment if you like this work, we'll be happy to know! :)

It’s seven AM in the morning. Ron Weasley is snoring very loudly on the bunkbed beneath his sister, Zara. An exceptionally loud snore throws Zara out of her sleep and right into a fighting stance, wide awake. After she realizes what woke her up, she groans and throws a pillow over the edge of her bed, right into Ron’s face. 

“Ugh. Ronald Weasley, for the love of Merlin, stop snoring so loudly!” 

He doesn’t seem to care, continuing to sleep unperturbed. He simply rolls over to the other side, with his back turned to her, and keeps on snoring like there’s no tomorrow.

Zara decides, if she can’t sleep anymore anyway, might as well do something with her morning and start early into the day. The house is quiet when she steps out of her room, except for a few creaks and groans here and there. Everybody is probably still asleep. Except their mother, Molly Weasley, of course – Zara meets her downstairs in the kitchen after she decides she might as well have a tea. 

Molly is a 5’2” pure blood witch, with a heart of gold and a passion for knitting. Her flaming red hair is always a little bit messy in the morning, just like Zara’s. Her Dad is also a red haired, pure blood wizard. He’s currently working for the ministry of magic. 

“Good morning, my sweetheart,” Molly greets her warmly, not turning away from the stove, where a few magic utensils are working on a meal, most likely a hearty breakfast for everyone. 

“Good mornin’ mum.” Zara yawns and sits down at the table after she told her mum about the tea she would like and the kettle goes to work with a swish of Molly’s wand. 

“You’re awake already? It’s so early for you, especially for summer break. Is Ron snoring again?”

“Obviously.” Zara mumbles tiredly. She doesn’t have much more energy for conversation so early in the morning.

“Sweety, you know you don’t have to sleep with Ron all the time, we can just move your bed around. You can always try to sleep with Ginny?” She talks into the direction of the pots and pans in front of her, but turns around now and then with a warm smile on her face to show her daughter she’s paying attention to her.

“I know, thanks mum. But who would keep Ron in check if I wasn’t there to throttle him with a pillow?”

Molly laughs a hearty tune, shakes her head softly and turns back to her cooking. It’s quite for a few minutes while Zara sips her black tea, soon feeling the effects of it kicking in and giving her more energy. Eventually, she remembers what she wanted to do today and prepares for The Talk. 

“Uhm, mum, I thought, since the break’s almost over, uh.. I thought I could maybe go to the Malfoys and spend the day with Phina?” Zara asks carefully, trying to make the idea sound as uncomplicated and nice as possible. She knows it’s always a bit of a sensitive topic for her parents.

The Malfoys and the Weasleys are both pure blood wizard families. But one of them is not like the other. 

A few decades ago, a half blood wizard named Tom Riddle decided to call himself Lord Voldemort, become the most dangerous wizard in the world and wipe out all wizards and witches who are not full blood. Those who chose to follow him were called the Death Eaters. And those who chose not to follow him got killed. 

It was big war in the world of magic. But one night, the night of his death, he tried to kill the Potter family. He succeeded with James and Lily Potter, but he couldn’t kill their little son Harry. Because of very old magic, Lily protected Harry with her love and bound his protection by blood. That same night Voldemort disappeared, never to be seen again. Some say he’s still alive but too weak yet. Some say he’s dead. 

The Malfoys decided to join Lord Voldemort in the past. Lucius Malfoy is still a terrifying wizard,  
believing the dark lord will come back sooner or later. But his wife Narcissa Malfoy is a loving mother who cares more about the safety of her children, just like Molly Weasley. 

The Malfoys have two kids. Draco Malfoy and Alsephina Malfoy. Alsephina Malfoy, short Phina, is Zara’s best friend. They met years ago by pure chance, during a visit from the Malfoys in Arthur Weasley’s department in the ministry where he had the smallest twins with him for a family day, and since then they were inseparable. More like twins than Zara and Ron even.

Molly huffs, waving her wand around to add a few last touches to the food, “Oh, honey, don’t be a fool. I will bring you!” 

“Really?”, Zara pipes up happily, sitting up a little straighter at the easy agreement. She didn’t expect it to go so smoothly. 

“Of course, my dear, I wanted to talk to Narcissa before you kids go off to school anyway. But first breakfast!  
Your father will be home soon from the night shift. Let me get the table ready.” 

Zara gets up from her seat and brings her empty mug over to the kettle, for a refill as soon as the table is set. She helps her mum as much as she can, but Molly does most of it herself with a quick charm, so there’s not much to do for her. Afterwards, with a little time left before her dad comes home and everyone will be awake, she goes over to the living room and sits down on the couch to stare at the “Where is?”-Clock. 

It’s their magic clock which shows you where the family members are at the moment, a much needed invention with how many there are of them. There are a few options, to count some of them; home, on their way, ministry of magic, school, lost and even Azkaban. Most of them are at home right now, except for Arthur, whose hand stands on ‘ministry of magic, and the oldest Weasley children, with Bill’s hand on ‘work’ and Charlie’s hand on ‘lost’. Zara’s glad no one’s has ever gotten anything close to Azkaban.

Azkaban is the magic prison. Zara still finds it hilarious that they have that specific sign, but finds it even more hilarious that it is probably because of Fred and George, as a precaution. Sometimes she likes to think about who is more likely to end up in Azkaban, and it’s always between herself or one of her older twin brothers. Not because they’re evil, no! They have the purest hearts of all. Only because their magic toys could potentially kill somebody, even if just by accident. And if it was Zara, she would probably end up there because she killed one of her many brothers, but most likely Ron. For snoring so damn loudly. 

By the time Zara checks back on the clock, the hand of Arthur Weasley has changed to ‘on his way’. It isn’t much of a progress though, since Arthur tends to get caught up in last-minute conversations and tasks even on his way home. Zara sighs.

Molly walks over into the living room, watching Zara stare at the clock with her hands on her hips.

“Don’t sulk my dear, your dad will be here in due time. Come on, get up and help me a little bit! You could always go wake up your siblings for me.”

That gives Zara the perfect idea on what to do. Excited, she gets up and promises to wake up the others, but doesn’t tell her how exactly she plans to do it. 

She gets up onto the first floor and grabs in between the stairs, where Fred and George have stashed a toy of theirs they haven’t gotten around to using yet. It’s a rocket that makes tremendous noise and follows around all the children in the house until it gets caught and disabled, and Zara thinks that’s an amazing way to wake up everyone. She sets it on George, Fred, Percy and Ron, but leaves Ginny out. Maybe not her. She doesn’t deserve it.

Then she lets it go, and with an ear-ringing squeaking noise, it flies up the stairs and into the first room. 

Zara laughs hysterically as she hears the twins scream, and then the tell-tale thumps of them falling out of bed. Still laughing, she walks up to Ginny’s room, to wake her more nicely.

A few minutes later, everyone trickles into the kitchen slowly, three very disgruntled boys and two very happy, giggling girls. Fred and George put Zara in a headlock to punish her for the mean wake-up call, but Molly interrupts them quickly with a stern word and makes them all settle around the table. She looks around the table, counting, and realizes Ron is missing.

“Can somebody go wake up the sleepyhead, please?” Molly asks, rubbing her forehead.

“Can’t believe that rocket didn’t wake him up,” Fred whispers to George, who agrees with a stark nod. “It worked perfectly!”

“It worked perfectly,” Zara imitates them in a whiny tone and then gets up to wake up Ron. She avoids getting a slap into her side by a hair’s width when she walks past the twins.

“Get up you lazy donkey! Dad will be home soon!”

Ron moaned, pulling the blanket over his head. “Get out! I wanna sleep!”

“No, you fool, it’s my room, too! Get up!” 

Zara pulls away her brother’s blankets and hits him on his head again and again with the pillow she threw onto him earlier. Getting more and more annoyed, Ron gets up eventually and throws over some comfy clothes.

“Ugh, you’re a damn donkey!” Zara says, on their way down the stairs.

“Yeah, and you’re the dumbest sister somebody can get me!”, Ron retorts, bumping into Zara on his way over to his seat.

“Stop fighting you two, that’s not a nice thing to come home to.” Arthur Weasley says with a smile on his face, who just came through the kitchen door, still in his robe and hat from work.

“Hi dad!” Zara shouts happily, sitting down as well. “Time for breakfast, we already prepared everything.”

Arthur disrobes quickly and charms his work clothes into the wardrobe in the hallway, before sitting down as well, and telling everyone to dig in. 

“How was work, dad?” Fred asks between bites of food, looking up at his dad.  
“Did something happen?” George adds on, as always a heart and a soul with his brother.

“Oh, nothing much really. But we all talked about Harry Potter a lot, since he turns eleven soon. Which means he’ll go to Hogwarts, probably join the same year as you two.” Arthur looks over to Ron and Zara. 

“He still doesn’t know he’s a wizard, dad?” Zara asks, compelled to know more about the topic when even in the ministry it’s all the talk these days. She imagines it must be very odd to not know you’re a wizard.

“That must be so odd,” Ron comments with a hum.

“Shut up, donkey, nobody asked you!” 

“That’s enough, kids! Not at the breakfast table,” Mama Weasley looks strictly at the young twins. 

“But,.. “ – “No, Ronald. Let your father tell us.” 

“…she started.” Ron says under his breath. 

Arthur leans back in his chair, taking his tea mug in hand. “No, Harry should know it by now. Dumbledore had a plan when he put Harry with those muggles. Nobody knows what kind of plan, but he’s a wise man, Dumbledore. He truly is.” 

Muggles are no wizards. They don’t have any magic powers. And after the death of the Potters, Dumbledore, one of the strongest wizards in the world, decided to put Harry to his last living family members, who happened to be muggles.

Dumbledore is also the headmaster of Hogwarts, the best school of magic in the world. When you turn 11 you get a letter and can join this school of magic. Zara’s and Ron’s letters arrived a few months ago, a few days before their birthday. 

“Phina already got her letter as well, mum.” Zara pipes up then, a little confused and nervous.

“Oh, yes. Arthur, you know why?” 

“Of course, next to Harry Potter it’s all the talk these days. They say she’s an unusual witch. That’s why the ministry of magic decided to get her there a year sooner.” 

“Oooh, an unusual witch!” Fred singsongs with a cheeky grin on his face. 

“Stop it, Fred!” Zara hisses. 

“Shh shh, guys. Please,” Molly reprimands with a disappointed tone. She takes her cup to hand and drinks a sip of her tea.

“Oooh, oooh,” George adds in a whisper, grinning into his toast. Zara looks angrily at her older twin brothers. 

“I don’t get what Phina likes about you.” She grumbles under her breath. 

“What was that?” Fred and George ask. 

“Nothing.” Zara quips and goes back to her breakfast. 

Fred and George are so much like each other that you can barely tell them apart. Even Molly has problems to do so sometimes. The fact that they like to switch around and lie about who’s who doesn’t make it any better either. 

Unlike Zara and Ron. They’re the opposite of each other. The only same thing is their red hair and their spite for each other.

_

After the breakfast Molly takes Zara to the Malfoy's. They're not even halfway up the empty, looming front yard before the Malfoy's house elf Dobby shoves up the heavy front door. 

“Mrs. Weasley, Miss Weasley, so good to see you, yes, yes. Come in, come in," Dobby says friendly, almost excited. Zara likes Dobby. She likes house elves in general, she thinks they’re cute. And Dobby is one of the cutest little creatures ever. His big ears on the sides of his head wiggle and flop around when he turns his head or nods. Besides that, he also speaks very funny. Zara knows though,that Lucius, the head of the family, doesn't treat him like he deserves. She often thinks about gifting him a garment and freeing him. But she isn’t his master, and that would do nothing but make problems.

“Ah, Zara, Molly, welcome.” Narcissa, a blonde witch with a pale face, comes out into the open, spacious hallway and opens up her arms to give Zara a short hug. She shakes Molly's hand afterward and squeezes her upper arm with her other hand softly. 

“Hello Narcissa!” Zara returns with a smile going from ear to ear, giddy to finally meet her best friend again.

“Alsephina is upstairs if you wondered, she's already waiting for you. She's been excited since she woke up early this morning." Narcissa smiles softly, and then turns to her house elf. "Dobby, bring Zara to Alsephina, please.” 

“Anything you ask for, Mistress!” 

The two mothers watch as Dobby hops up the grand staircase, Zara hot on his heels but careful not to step on his feet. They wait until they're around the corner and out of sight to look at each other and make their way over to the lounge.

“Will you have a tea with me, Molly?” Narcissa sits down in one of the dark armchairs that stand in a half circle around an oval glass table, already set with a full tea set, complete with a sleek teapot, a sugar bowl and two elegant cups. "It's earl grey infused with italian lemon."

Molly sits down next to Narcissa, a little stiff still, like doesn't fully feel comfortable yet. “Is Lucius at home?” 

Narcissa hums knowingly, filling their cups with tea with a quick flick of her wand. “No, no. He’s out with Draco at the moment, buying supplies for Hogwarts.” 

Molly visibly relaxes. “Then, let’s drink a tea, my dear.” 

Molly doesn't like Lucius. She thinks he’s a cold-hearted wizard with no remorse. And he is. He’s a conceited man with an urge for power and a dislike towards familial love,  
which Molly cannot tolerate. They clash against each other whenever they have to talk.

Over tea, they discuss the first year of wizarding school for their children. Narcissa even asks about Molly's other children once or twice, if Fred and George were behaving themselves and how Charlie was handling his dragons. If Lucius had known he would have immensely disapproved.

Narcissa Malfoy has always been a proud pure blood witch, just like Lucius. Ever since she became a mother though, she had changed for the better. Pure blood wasn’t that important anymore. She regrets her past and how she acted because of her blood pride. Nowadays, her children are more important to her than prestige and wealth. That’s why her and Lucius fight more and more often. She still hopes he will realize what he's sacrificing over his delusions of pure blood supremacy, because even after all, she still loves him. 

They eventually get interrupted in their small talk by two pairs of footsteps crashing down the stairs, and loud giggling. Molly looks over to the open doorway in expectation, while Narcissa calls out calmly, "No running in the house, Alsephina."

Alsephina appears in the doorframe, Zara right after her. Their chests heave a little bit from running all the way from her room down the stairs, and Alsephina tries to suppress her big grin. "Apologies, mum. I just wanted to show Zara my wand! I have to show it to her. Please, can I have it?" 

Narcissa smiles faintly, taking a sip of her tea languidly. “No illegal wizardry inside the house, young ladies. You know that. You aren't even supposed to have your wand before school starts.” Narcissa reminds her calmly.

“Never, mum! No illegal wizardry, I promise! Pinky promise. I just wanna show my wand to Zara, it's so perfect!” Alsephina wobbles around on the balls of her feet, excited. Narcissa nods her head slowly, humming. 

"Very well, then. Dobby, bring Alsephina her wand, please."

Dobby appears with a soft plop and a small gust of dust, holding up a wand to Alsephina, who bends down and takes it with a wide grin and a hearty 'thank you so much, Dobby!' before looking back up at her mother. "Thank you too, mum. You're the best!" 

Narcissa laughs quietly, and Molly's heart warms. She doesn't hear Narcissa laugh often these days. The last time she remembers her laughing loudly with tears in her eyes and a hurting stomache was back in their own school times.

"Of course, darling. You're very welcome. Now, go on, go back up and have fun. But remember! No illegal wizardry inside the house."

"Yes, yes, no illegal wizardry inside the house, we know! We won't do anything," the girls repeat after her, already turning around and running back up the stairs. The mothers give it a few more seconds until they hear the bedroom door shut loudly, before going back to their conversation. They don't get far though, immediately getting interrupted again, this time by a loud banging sound from above, sounding dull through the bricks of the ceiling.

Molly has never seen Narcissa move so quickly, or look so emotional, as in that moment when she jumps up and runs to the staircase. Molly follows her immediately, as concerned as Narcissa. “Girls, are you okay?” Narcissa shouts upstairs, ready to hurry up the stairs if something was seriously wrong.

From upstairs, they hear a shrieking laugh and then a door opening. “Ah, ah, yeah, yes! We - we are good. It was just, uh.. the,  
the bookshelf fell over! Yeah, right, the bookshelf. Mhm!” Zara calls out, very believably. The girls giggle. 

Molly and Narcissa relax again, look back at each other and start giggling themselves in relief. “Those girls," Molly offers, and Narcissa nods with a smile. 

They call out once again that the girls should be careful and that there should be no magic inside the house, before they let it be and turn to go back to the lounge. Before they can reach it thougy, Dobby plops into existence at the heavy manor door and opens it, greeting the newcomers with their according titles. Molly's blood runs cold, and even Narcissa stiffens up, losing the relaxation she had fallen into earlier.

Dobby opens up the door wide enough to let the new arrivals in. A cold wind blows in with them. Lucius Malfoy is back, Draco right behind him. He looks at Molly, his chin automatically jutting up. 

“Ah, a Weasley in our home. With what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Good day to you too, Mr. Malfoy.” Molly looks stern. She suppresses the urge to cross her arms, or even get her wand ready. “The girls were planned to have a playdate today. They're upstairs." 

The Malfoy's son, Draco, steps past his father into the hallway and dumps his coat and shoes onto Dobby, who vanishes to store them away. Narcissa motions him over to her, laying a warm hand onto his shoulder.

"I hope your trip to Diagon Alley was nice, Draco. As you heard, the girls are upstairs, why don't you join them?” Narcissa offers warmly. 

Draco makes a face, rolling his eyes. “Ugh. Why, mum? They’re so annoying.” He crosses his arms, which Narcissa watches with disapproval. Draco undoes his arms quickly after he saw her gaze.

“It's either that or you can go to your room and be alone and read a book.” 

Draco huffs, annoyed, but ultimately goes upstairs. Passing Alsephina's room, he sees the door is a little open. He halts and thinks to himself, why not. He sneaks up to the gap and peeks inside.

The girls are sitting in front of Alsephina's chaotic looking bookshelf, reading The Standard Book Of Spells, which is part of each of their first-year Hogwarts supplies. 

Draco shakes his head and makes himself known, opening up the door a little more and leaning against the doorframe. “You nerds. Can't wait for school to start already?” 

Zara looks up at the sudden new voice and looks Draco straight in the eye. He defiantly keeps the eye contact until she blushes really hard. 

Alsephina looks up then, too, and starts giggling at whatever her brother and her best friend are doing there. “Come in, Didi, join us! We're trying to see if there are some spells we can learn before school starts."

Zara rips her gaze away from Draco's and turns to Alsephina, hissing and whispering at her, slightly panicked. Draco watches the exchange, smiling faintly. “No, I don't think so. Zara doesn’t seem to want that.”

Zara, feeling caught, turns back around to Draco and looks at him like a deer in headlights. “Um.. I, uh..” Zara stammers. Alsephina hums, already going back to her passage in the book.

Draco turns away, lifting a hand in goodbye. “I'll be in my room.” 

The door closes behind him and it's quiet for a few seconds. Zara gives it a few extra moments before she turns to Alsephina sharply. “Why did you do that?” 

Alsephina shrugs, grinning widely. “I dunno, I thought it might be a good opportunity for you to, oh, I dunno, get a little closer to him?” 

Zara grabs a pillow from next to them where they made a comfy sitting place with Alsephina's bedspread and chucks it at her. Alsephina topples over laughing, pushing the book away from her to keep it from getting hit. Zara holds her hot cheeks with her hands and growls.

“That was so embarrassing, there’s no way he would like me like that now!”

“Pfffft”, Phina waves her hands around, “this is Didi we’re talking about. Have you seen him? Lamest brother I have ever seen. Nothing compared to yours.”

Zara huffs, pushing the curls that fell into her face back behind her ears or up her forehead. “Which one, huh? I got enough, like, six of them, almost a whole quidditch team. I’m ready to switch one out for Draco. Which one do you want, the stupid lookalikes, the donkey or the ugly one? The one obsessed with dragons? Bill??”

Alsephina stops in her laughter, wiping tears from her eyes and sitting up. She looks around the room, not seeming to want to answer that question. Zara huffs again.

“Don’t try and avoid it now! Say it!”

Phina grumbles, now as embarrassed as Zara was before. “You.. know which one, dummy.”

Zara taps a finger to her lips and hums. “Hm… No, I don’t think I remember. Come again?”

“Ugh! G- mhm. Argh, George!”

Zara screams in laughter. Alsephina throws the pillow back that Zara threw at her just seconds before. “I hate you!”

“Nooo, you love me! Don’t lie to yourself!”

“You’re the worst best friend ever.”

“I am your one and only best friend, since like, forever.”

“Pfft. Still.”

“I love you, too.”

Alsephina grumbles and gets up to busy herself with something. Just anything is better than getting ridiculed by Zara for crushing on her big brother. She’ll never let her live it down.

“Alright, let’s do something. How about getting back to that charms book? Maybe I can sneak a spell in without Dobby telling mum!”

_

Zara and Molly leave in the early afternoon for a short trip to Diagon Alley. Narcissa offers for them to use their fireplace to travel by floo, but Molly declines with a warm thank you. She wants to take the boys with them as well, and Merlin knows they would get there by themselves without any supervision.

Back home they stand in front of their own fireplace, Molly keeping everyone in check around them and asking them to stand in a line, keeping the floo powder ready.

"Zara, dear, you go first, please."

Zara steps forward into the fireplace, speaking clearly and well-practiced over the years. When she was little, she hated to travel with floo powder. She was so afraid to say the wrong thing, that she spoke very slowly and overly punctuated. Nowadays it’s the easiest thing ever. You name the fireplace you want to end up in and hold onto your belongings while you travel.

She steps out of the Floo Network joint in Diagon Alley and goes a few paces out of the way to give the following Weasleys space to travel as well. One after the other, Ron, Fred, George, Percy, Arthur and lastly Molly step out, joining her.

Zara pulls the Hogwarts letter out of her pocket and holds it tight in her hands. She’s so proud. In a few hours she can finally go to Hogwarts. Fred and George talk about the teachers and faculty members all the time. Mostly irritated, because they get in a lot of trouble for their toys and pranks, but for Zara it feels like she already knows everyone. 

Zara unfolds the piece of paper attached to the letter and reads, once again.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF  
WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

UNIFORM  
First-year students will require:  
1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4\. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)  
Please note all pupils’ clothes should carry name tags 

SET BOOKS  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:  
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble 

OTHER EQUIPMENT  
1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales 

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST - YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS 

Ron bumps his shoulder against Zara's, bending over her shoulder, “How often do you wanna read it, nerd? You must know every word by now!”

Molly clicks with her tongue, while Zara pierces Ron with an angry glare. “Ronald, let your sister read the letter as much as she wants to," their mother reprimands.

Satisfied, Zara sticks out her tongue to Ron and turns back to the front, head held high. 

The Weasley’s aren’t rich people. Most of their schoolbooks and equipment are hand-me-downs from the very first Weasley to go to Hogwarts, Bill, handed down every sibling up until the youngest first years, now Zara and Ron. They only had to buy another new set when Fred and George first started out.

Arthur Weasley decided to buy new robes for the younger twins, though. Bill's old robes had already fallen apart at the seams, and Charlie's hadn't looked so great either. He thought it would be unfair to get new clothes for Zara but not for Ron. A few of the books needed to be rebought too, after Fred and George's mishandling of them.

“Can we go to Ollivander first, mum? Pleeeeease!” Zara asks excited, hopping around in place.

Molly smiles and strokes a lock of hair from Zara's face. “You go to Ollivanders', my love, hush, hush. Take Ron with you! We'll be in Flourish and Blotts.” 

Zara takes Ron hand, pulling him along. “Come on donkey, let’s go!” 

They run over to Ollivander. Ron was truly exhausted after this short sprint. Zara opens the door while Ron still reads the door sign.

Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.

It smells like an antique book shop paired with a wood shop. Zara loves this smell. She was here a lot of times, always accompanying her family and older siblings. The first time when they were getting a wand for Bill, the oldest sibling, nine years ago. 

Zara can’t remember it well, she and Ron were still very young then. But she can remember her second visit with Charlie seven years ago, when she was four. Ollivander always seemed so nice to her. She can remember how he congratulated Molly for having a daughter after five sons. The third time was with Percy and the last time with Fred and George. She loves this odd corner shop. 

“Hello, miss Zara Weasley. Nice to see you again, finally not just looking around but to buy your own wand. Ahh, and you bring your twin brother with you. Hello, Ron.” Ron nodded his head, looking around in wonder.

“Hello, Mr. Ollivander. Yes, the time has finally come, we are next in line.” 

“Yes, yes. And I am pretty sure I'll know which wand will fit you best, after already supplying so many of your siblings with one before you. Just give me a second.” 

Oh, he knows it? Zara thinks to herself. She watches Ollivander go over to a shelf, step onto a high ladder and pull out a box with utmost care. Then he goes over to another one, and pulls out another box from the bottom row.

“How could he know your wand? The wand chooses the wizard." Ron quips up from beside her, a little miffed.

“B-e-cause he knows what he's doing, Ron! He already gave every one of us a wand. Be quiet!” 

Ollivander steps back to his counter, puts both boxes on the counter and pauses for a second, thinking. Then, he pushes one of them forward and opens it for Zara. “Ahh, here it is. Just take it into your hand and test it out, don't be shy. Go on, give it a twirl!"

Zara grabs it nervously, scared of a magical mishap. But in the exact moment she touches the wand, a gust of happiness flows through her body. She gives the wand a twirl still, and magic weaves around her and pushes the curls out of her face.

She looks back at Ollivander, excited, and he smiles. “You see, my dear? I knew it. This is the perfect wand for a young intelligent witch like you!” 

“What’s in it, Mr. Ollivander?”

“Your wand is made out of Hazel wood with a unicorn hair core, nine and a half inches and hard flexibility, my little friend.” 

“Unicorn hair? That's a good sign, isn’t it?” 

Ollivander starts laughing. “Why? Because unicorn hair struggles with dark magic? It's true it is very opposed to be used for the wrong intentions. You don’t think you’re going to be a dark witch?” 

Zara laughs back. “No, no! I solemnly swear!” Zara looks down at her wand in amazement, then looks back up again.

Ollivander winks at Zara and then turns to Ron. “Now to you, my other friend. Hm.. hm.. let’s see.” 

Ollivander examines Ron and then offers the wand from the other box to him. Ron takes the wand between his fingers, his hand shakes a little. He gives it an unsure flick and squeaking lightning shoots out, flying into the edge of one of the shelves. Ron flinches and quickly puts the wand back into the box. Ollivander hums, putting the box the side. “Maybe not ash wood like Charlie.” He goes back over to one of the shelves, coming back with one of the boxes from the middle rows.

“Let’s try.. this one. Willow wood with an unicorn hair core. Fourteen inches and medium flexibility. That must be fitting perfectly.” 

Ron swishes the wand around and Zara sees the same reaction take him over that she had earlier. Ollivander looks pleased with himself and nods at them, wishing them much fun with their new wands. Ron and Zara thank him profusely, walking out of Ollivanders with their new wands in hand and big smiles on their faces. 

They're too excited to look where they're going, looking at each other or their wands, so Zara doesn't see the person right in front of her and walks straight into them. She looks up and sees no other than Draco Malfoy.

“Shoot. I – I’m sorry, Draco!” 

Ron shoots a disappointed look over to Zara. He doesn’t like the Malfoy boy even half as much as Zara does.

“Malfoy.” Ron greets him coldly, rolling his eyes. 

“Weasley," Draco returns the same.

“Stop it, you twats.” A voice behind Draco pipes up, walking around to stand next to him. It's Alsephina.

Zara beams. “Phina! You’re here too? What for? I thought your dad already got you everything.” 

“Dad grabbed the wrong size of my clothes, since I wasn't there to get them measured.  
So we're back again, to get them sized correctly.” 

Zara hums, looking between Draco and Alsephina. “Me and Ron still need to go get our robes too. So… let’s go shopping together?” 

“Aaaabsolutely!” Alsephina cheers. 

Ron and Draco roll their eyes. The only thing they agree about is how annoying their sisters are. “What’s wrong with you two?” 

Zara and Alsephina ignore them. All together they go over to Madame Malkin’s robes for all Occasions and pick out their school robes from the section declared as 'Plain working robes, standard for Hogwarts'.

“Have you seen Potter, yet?” Alsephina asks Zara while they're waiting for measurement with their bundle of clothes on their arms.

“No not yet, have you?” 

Alsephina shakes her head from side to side. “Draco says he might have seen him with Hagrid, the gamekeeper a month ago,  
but maybe he’s lying.” 

“Well, at the least we'll meet him at Hogwarts. Maybe we'll be lucky and see him on the train?” 

“Yeah, maybe.” Alsephina makes a long pause, watching Ron get measured on the stand, his arms opened wide. Then she seems to remember something and turns back to Zara, a glimmer in her eyes. 

“Oh! Show me your wand! You came from Ollivanders when we walked into you, right?” 

Zara beams and pulls out her wand, holding it out to Alsephina so she can take a closer look. 

“Hazel wood, with a unicorn hair core.” 

“Amazing!” 

While Alsephina admires her wand, Zara looks over to Draco, who is standing in a corner, waiting for his sister to be done here. She's had a crush on him for years. And she can’t understand why. 

He has eyes like a summer storm, hair white as ice and he’s cold like his father. He would never love a flaming red head, much less a Weasley. She knows what Lucius thinks about them, and Draco has most of his opinions from him. She doesn't stand a chance.

“Stop dreamin’, dummy.” Alsephina brings her back to the real world, pushing the wand back into Zara's hands. Zara blushes a little and puts her wand away, next in line to get measured.

It's a quick process, and Alsephina is right after her. When they're done, they have to wait a few minutes while the clothes get shortened and their name tags stitched on. Madame Malkin puts the three bundles of clothes onto the counter, a friendly smile on her face. Zara, Alsephina and Ron thank her with a smile and grab their clothes. Draco follows them outside.

“Ohhh, look who’s over there.” Zara softly bumps her elbow into Alsephina's side and nods her head to the side. 

Fred and George stand in front of Flourish and Blotts, next to Molly Weasley and Narcissa Malfoy, who are talking to each other with bags in their arms.

“Oh no, oh no,” Alsephina whimpers, blushing. The four of them walk over and join their mothers in their conversation.

“Hello dears, you got everything you need?" Molly smiles at Ron and Zara, then turns to the Malfoy children. "Hello Alsephina, hello Draco!” 

“Hello Mrs. Weasley.” Alsephina and Draco say simultaneously, one visibly more excited than the other.

Lucius steps out of Flourish and Blotts then, joining the group. His cane clicks onto the stone street loudly. Zara looks at it in distaste, she doesn't like that cane very much. It’s a black walking stick with silver details, the handle a snake head with his mouth open in a hiss, displaying big frightening teeth. 

It’s like he’s freezing the happiness wherever he walks. Everybody gets quiet around him. Lucius' chin juts up again, looking around.

“Ah, the Weasleys again.” 

Alsephina taps a finger against Zara's arm, giggling. “Just imagine how disappointed he would get if you end up marrying my brother!” Alsephina whispers in Zara’s ear.

Zara starts laughing, trying not to make too much noise around Lucius. Lucius looks down at Zara, raising one eyebrow in disdain. “What’s so funny, Weasley?"

Zara and Alsephina hush immediately. Lucius snarls.

“Lucius!” Narcissa says with an undertone of angriness. 

Molly Weasley thinks about kicking Lucius' ass for this undertone. No, no, Molly, calm down, she reminds herself. Years ago, when Zara and Alsephina became friends, she swore to herself to be friendly and civil with the Malfoys. Even when Lucius acts like a bloody douchebag.

Zara looks up at her mother, knowing what a big deal it is for her not to say something against Lucius Malfoy. She grabs the seam of her sleeve and whispers, “Thank you, mum.” 

Molly looks down at her first born daughter and smiles. Mother Weasley had wished for a daughter year after year. And here she stands. Her best friend a Malfoy. What an unfortunate luck.

Alsephina looks knowingly up to Narcissa, her mother will find an excuse to leave. Narcissa hates it when Lucius is cold hearted and acts superior. But he always does, again and again. Sometimes it makes Alsephina sad. She wishes he would be at least a loving, nice dad to her and Draco, like Arthur Weasley is to his kids. She loves how he is always in a good mood, once he even pinched her cheek in his joy. And even when it ached a little bit afterwards, it also felt like love. Alsephina wishes to have this kind of family. 

“Excuse us, we have to pack together Draco's and Alsephina's suitcases for the departure to Hogwarts tomorrow. We will see you at Platform 9 ¾. Come on, children.” 

Zara waves at Alsephina, who had already walked over to her mother. She somehow had known Narcissa would say something like that. 

“Hurry up kids, we'll have to go too. It will be packed with muggles like every year, and we still have five suitcases to pack!” Molly exclaims and turns around to her husband, Arthur Weasley. "Do we have everything, Arthur?"

Arthus folds the checklist in his hand and nods, looking glum. “Something about this man gives me the creeps.” He mutters to his wife in secret. 

“SOMETHING?” Molly responds, laughing. “How about everything?”


	2. Plattform 9 3/4

“Children, do you have all your things? Ron, do you have your sweater, and what about Scabbers? Where’s the owl, do Fred and George have it? Fred! George!”

The suitcases, bags and duffles clutter onto the street next to the car as Molly and Percy heave them out one by one, slightly hectic. They are a little later than expected, even though Molly already planned ahead that they will be late. They always are, with such a big family, but every time it surprises her yet again exactly how late they can be.

Fred and George are joking around and making fun of Ron’s sweater while they fetch a few trunks to put all their luggage onto. Ron complains while trying to get out of the car with Scabbers and Errol, that Fred dumped onto him just earlier. The cage is big and bulky and Ron hates traveling with his twin brothers so much. Zara, just behind Ron waiting to get out after him, sighs and decides to scoot over and exit on the other side of the car instead. 

With Fred and George helping to get the luggage sorted, they’re rushing down King’s Cross to get to Platform 9 ¾ on time. It’s a well-used station, so it’s not only used by wizards and witches, but also muggles. The family has to weave in between unknowing bystanders to avoid getting held up, and Molly grumbles as she makes her way down to the Platforms 9 and 10, the kids hot on her heels. 

“As always, it is packed with muggles, of course!”, Zara hears her grumble loudly, almost loud enough that Zara’s scared the muggles will hear it too. 

She looks around, trying to check if anyone heard them. There she catches the eye of a boy about her age, very thin and very small, with too big clothes for his size, black hair and green eyes. He seems confused, and she tries to decipher if he’s confused because he heard the word muggle or because they are looking at each other for too long. 

“Now, what’s the platform number again? I forget it every time, gosh,” Molly calls out, slightly out of breath and once again looking around herself to see if she has all her kids with her. 

“Nine and three quarters!”, piped Ginny up from beside her, “Mum, can’t I go?”

“You’re not old enough yet, Ginny”, Molly soothed her, “now be quiet, darling. Alright, Percy, you go first!”

Percy marched up between platform 9 and 10, straight into the middle where a beam was in his way. Zara has a little heart attack seeing him run right into his doom, but as soon as he hits the wall, it gives away and he disappears behind the brick wall.

“Fred, you’re next,” Molly turns to one of the twins, and Zara hears him saying he’s George, acting like he’s offended. She rolls her eyes, immediately knowing Fred is trying to play tricks on their mother again. 

“Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can’t you tell I’m George?” 

“Sorry, George, dear.” 

He enjoys the seconds of mischief he had caused, admits ‘only joking, I’m Fred’ and then follows after Percy with a laugh. George, a heart and a soul with his twin brother, catches right up to him without a word from Molly and vanishes only seconds behind Fred. 

“Mum, where’s Alsephina? We promised each other we would go to the platform together!”

“Oh sweety, I don’t know, maybe they went ahead!” Molly looks around her, searching for the Malfoys. Zara gets a gloomy mien.   
“Hurry up, my love, it’s pretty late!” Zara went between the platforms, like her older brothers and run into it. 

“There you are, little chaos queen!”, Fred and George say amused. Zara almost ran into their carts after appearing on the other side, because they were still standing so close to it. She watches as they start to move towards the train. “Are we not waiting for Ron?” Zara asks nervously. 

“You can, but we’ll go ahead,” Fred looks back at her, calling out over his shoulder. “We only wanted to check if you were alright,” George adds with a soft grin. 

Zara stands in front of the wall, watching her older twin brothers leave. Looking back at the wall, a little torn about what to do, What’s taking him so long? She asks herself. 

“Zara, over here!” a familiar voice shouts out from a window of the train. Zara looks in the direction and sees Alsephina, hanging out of one of the open train windows waving wildly, “come on, I’m waiting for you! I saved us a compartment!” 

“But, Ron…” - “It's fine, dummy, he will find us.” 

Zara looks back one more time, before running over to the train, heaving her luggage in and shoving it towards the cabin in which she saw Alsephina. 

She walks over to the window to look out for her brother. Instead, she sees the boy who stared at her at the platform. Where is Ron? Zara asks herself again. Even when she vexes him and fights with him a lot, she still adores him. 

Then, finally, Ron comes through the wall, with all his bags. 

The small boy looks back at Ron with wide open eyes. Ron seems to show him how to enter the train. Zara knocks against the window, waving Ron to her. 

“Finally, you donkey! I thought you would miss the train!” Zara looks at him very, very reproachfully. 

“There was this boy, he didn’t know how to go through the wall. Mum showed him.” Right in this moment the small boy shows up behind Ron, “Can I join you?” he asks politely. 

Before any of them can reply, Fred and George catch up to them, almost running into the boy’s luggage still standing around in the middle of the train aisle. “There you all are, glad we didn’t lose anyone on the way here,” Fred jokes, looking at each of the younger kids in the compartment. His eyes catch Alsephina’s shortly and he grins as he jabs his elbow into George’s side. George complains and Alsephina looks out of the window quickly, wanting to fall through the floor. She hates that Fred knows, it’s so embarrassing.

“Want a hand with that?”, George asks the boy then, still rubbing his side where Fred elbowed him. “Yes, please,” the boy answers timidly. 

“Oy, Fred, c’mere and help.”

Together they chuck the big, bulky suitcase into one of the corners of the compartment, tucked neatly away. The boy thanks them for their help and pushes his sweaty hair out of his face. Apparently packing away his suitcase was a whole workout for him. 

“What’s that?” Fred points at the boy’s forehead. Everybody stares at the small boy, expect Alsaphina, who's still looking out of the window sulking. “Psst, Phina, look!” Zara tip against Alsaphina’s shoulder. Alsephina looks up to the boy and sees his lightning scar. 

“Blimey.. are you..?” 

Everybody still stares at the boy.   
“He is!” says George.   
“Aren’t you?” added Ron.   
“What?” The boy seems very uncomfortable. “Harry Potter”, the older twins chorus.   
“Ohh, him. I mean, yes I am.” 

“Kids, are you there? I wanted to say goodbye!” Molly Weasley shouts through the open train doors. 

All kids, even Alsephina, go back outside, to say goodbye to Mama Weasley.

“Ron, you’ve got something on your nose!” Ron tries to jerk out of Molly’s way, but she grabs him and begins rubbing his nose. The girls giggle. 

“Mum-geroff!” he wiggles free. 

“Ahh, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nose?” says Fred. Zara and Alsephina start laughing very hard. 

“Where’s Percy?” Molly looks around for her oldest school goer, “ah, there he is.” 

Percy comes striding into sight. He already changed his clothes. He's wearing his new Hogwarts robes with a golden P on it. 

“I’m a Prefect, mother”, Zara makes fun of him, whispering right into Alsephina’s ear. Alsephina starts giggling again.

“I can’t stay long, mother, I’m a Prefect." 

In that moment Zara and Alsephina start laughing so hard, tears roll down their faces.

“Oh, we had no idea, Percy, why didn’t you tell us?” replies George. “Hang on, I think, I remember him saying something about it," Fred wonders.   
“Or twice,” Zara adds.  
“A minute?” says Ron.  
“All summer,“ Ginny pipes up.  
“Oh, shut up!” Percy rolls his eyes. 

Molly waves her hands around. "Shh, shh kids. Stop being so mean to each other! All right, dear, well, have a good term – send me an owl when you get there!” She kisses Percy’s cheek. Percy looks at his siblings, nods, turns around and goes back inside the train. 

“Now you two –" She turns to Fred and George, "this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you’ve – you’ve blown up a toilet or –“ 

“Blown up a toilet? We’ve never blown up a toilet," George muses. “Great idea through, thanks, mum!” Fred finishes.

“That’s not funny! Look after your younger twins and Alsephina for me!” 

“Mum! Mum! You remember the boy, the boy from the platform?” Zara points at Harry, who's standing a little bit farther away from them. “Yes, my dear, why?” 

“That’s Harry Potter!” All kids say simultaneously. Molly Weasley looks up to the boy. “Oh really?” 

“Do you think he can remember how You-Know-Who looks like?” – “FRED! How dare you!” She hits him with a piece of paper. 

“Now go, and I forbid you ask him something like this!” 

The kids go back inside the train, back to their compartment. Fred and George leave them to go join their friends in another train cabin. 

“Bye, kids. See you later.” George winks at Alsephina before they turn away, who starts blushing again. “Zara, how could your brothers be so mean?” 

Zara put her arm around her, “I think because he likes you, too!” – “Dummy!” 

Ron, Zara and Alsephina sit down in the cabin as the train starts to drive out of the station. They all sit on one side, in front of Harry Potter. It’s dead silent between them for a few seconds, before -

“Are you really Harry Potter?”, Ron blurts out. Zara punches his arm for it. Harry watches them quarrel for a second and then nods slowly. “Yes, and you are..?”

“Oh, I’m Ron, Ronald Weasley. And this is my stinky twin sister Zara.” 

Once again, Zara punches Ron in the arm and the bickering continues. Alsephina giggles and turns to Harry. “Well, I’m Alsephina Malfoy, but you can just call me Phina.”

Harry’s eyes widen behind his crooked round glasses. “Malfoy? Like, in Draco Malfoy?”

Alsephina looks surprised, but nods. “Yeah, Draco’s my big brother. So, he was telling the truth when he said he met you a few weeks ago in Diagon Alley?”

Harry frowns softly. “I guess so, more or less. It wasn’t really a nice meeting.”

“Oh,” Alsephina scratches her cheek, now frowning as well, “well – he isn’t always the nicest to be around, but he’s fine, really, if you get to know him better.” She looks over to her best friend, grinning. “Ask Zara, she knows what I’m talking about.”

“Hey, shut it! Not in front of Harry Potter!” Zara turns away from Ron and hisses at Alsephina, who immediately falls into a fit of giggles. 

“The other twins are our older twin siblings”, Zara turns to Harry. 

“So, all six of you are wizards?” – “All eight.” Zara corrects.   
“EIGHT?” – “Yeah, we’re eight kids.”, Ron nods. 

“Even better, we are a pure blood family, Alsephina’s family as well. But for us it’s not as important If you’re a half blood or a muggle born wizard as for the Malfoys.” Zara adds. 

“Half blood or muggle born? What’s that mean?”, Harry asks after a short pause.

The trio in front of him go over into a heated explanation of different birth status in the wizarding world, which Harry more or less understands because they’re all talking over each other, and rather quickly too. Maybe it’ll come to him in the future. Their rapid talk gets interrupted once by a woman with a trolley full of magical sweets. 

Alsephina looks at Zara, knowing Molly had only packed sandwiches for her kids because that’s all they can afford. She decides to do something nice for them.

“We’ll take three packets of Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans, three chocolate frogs and three Pumpkin pastries please!” Alsephina winks at Zara, who smiles in gratefulness.

“Do you wanna have something, as well?” The woman looks over to Harry. Harry nods with a grin on his face, “I will take one of everything!” 

The kids start laughing. “Hungry, are you?” Ron asks Harry. 

“Starving!” 

“Do you wanna have a sandwich? Self-made from our mother!” Zara hands Harry a sandwich. He nods. “Thank you!” 

Ron, Alsephina and Zara tell Harry what kind of flavours of Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans they got while chewing them.

“When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour! George reckons he had had a booger-flavoured one once!” Ron says with a full mouth. “Disgusting!” Zara joins in, “I love the green apple ones the most, though.” 

Alsephina starts giggling. “Of course you do!” Zara stabs Alsephina with her elbow. 

“Why is it so funny?”, Harry wonders, while Alsaphina’s still giggling. “Oh, ‘cause my brother loves green apples. It’s the only fruit he ever eats. He even smells like it most of the time, which is why –” Zara’s face turns red immediately, interrupting her best friend before she can finish that particular sentence. “Staaap it!”

Ron rolls his eyes. “I don’t get what you like about him. He’s super arrogant and not even a little nice like Alsephina.” – “Yeah, and you’re very stinky.” Zara grumbles in retaliation and crosses her arms, sulking. Harry and Ron look at each other and just shrug.

Then, the glass door to their compartment opens a second time, and most of them expect the lady with the sweets to come around for a second round, but it isn’t her.

“Have you seen a toad? Neville’s lost one”, a girl with bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth asks the group of kids. 

“No, I don’t think so, I’m sorry, but do you need help finding it?” Zara asks, and Alsephina nods in agreement. 

“That would be nice!” 

Glad to be of help, Zara and Alspehina stand up and leave the boys behind, together with the bushy brown haired girl. 

“I’m Alspehina, this is Zara, who are you?” 

“My name is Hermione!” replies the girl. 

“Nice to meet you, Hermione!” Zara says with a smile on her face. She thinks she’s beautiful and looks a little nerdy, pretty much like her and Alsephina. She fits right in with them.

They walk along the train aisles, searching for the toad in all corners and crevices but to no avail. Eventually, they decide to ask other students around the other compartments too, just like Hermione did before. Zara opens up a door and asks the group inside the same question Hermione asked them. 

“No, there isn’t a toad here. Why would there be a toad in here of all places?” Draco leans forward, with a faint smile, as always. Zara rolls her eyes and sighs. She leaves without closing the door behind her. Draco jumps after her, a little annoyed that she left the door open and holds the handle, frowning. “Why so stressed out all of a sudden? Something you don’t like?” 

“I’m not stressed out, Draco. Everything’s fine. You go back to your friends.” 

Zara leaves him behind. Draco, a little miffed about the peculiar exchange, looks after her for a short second and then goes back inside his cabin. 

They search for a while longer but ultimately can’t find the toad and give up. Hermione accompanies the girls back to her cabin. Opening the door, they see Ron has his wand in hand, ready to do some magic.

“Don’t even try it, Ron. You don’t have to impress Harry Potter!” 

“Harry Potter?” Hermione asks, which they all agree in with a little nod or a hum.

“No, no, let’s see it, Ron. Do magic” Alsephina spurs him knowing he would fail and excited to see it. Likewise a little Malfoy. 

Ron clears his throat and points his wand at his rat Scabbers, which sits right in his lap.

Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,   
Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow! 

Nothing happens, and Ron sinks into himself, disappointed. Zara claps her hand against her forehead. “Did George give you that spell?” 

Hermione and Alsephina giggle. Ron’s face turns red. “Yes..” 

Now Harry starts smiling a little bit, too. 

“Donkey”, Zara says amused. “By the way, this is Hermione!” Ron and Harry raise their hands and slowly wave. 

The girls sit down, and Ron switches the sides over to Harry so the three of them can all sit together. “I know all about you - of course”, Hermione says, "I got a few extra books for background reading, and you’re in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century!”

Zara turns to Alsephina and whispers, impressed, “I like this girl!” 

“Oh, really?” Harry stutters. “Goodness, didn’t you know?” Hermione raises one eyebrow. Harry shakes his head from side to side. 

A moment of silence fills the cabin, before Hermione starts speaking again. “Do either of you know what house you’ll be in? I’ve been asking around and I hope I’m in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I heard Dumbledore himself was one!”

“Gryffindor is overrated.” Zara says. Hermione pauses her fast speaking to respond to Zara. “Ravenclaw wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” 

“None of the houses are bad, I think they all have their own charm.” Alsephina complements. 

“Isn’t it true, that all bad witches and wizards are from Slytherin?” - “No, Ronald! Stop telling such bullshit!” Zara hisses at Ron. 

“Slytherins are ambitious, cunning, resourceful and can even be a little bit crafty.” Zara shoots a meaningful look at Alsephina. She knows Alsephina will ask the sorting hat for Slytherin. Even when she’s more of a Hufflepuff, most likely. 

Zara will not make a wish for a specific house. Molly Weasley and Arthur Weasley were in Gryffindor, Bill and Charlie as well. Percy is so far the only Weasley that ended up in another house, Slytherin to be specific. Zara’s parents are proud of him, either way, since he’s still doing miraculous in school. George and Fred are also in Gryffindor. Zara doesn’t know in which house the hat will be sorting her, and she doesn’t want to know beforehand. She will see when she gets to it.

Alsephina on the other hand has no choice but to wish for Slytherin no matter what. Her father would be disappointed if she was sorted into any other house than Slytherin. It’s like a family business for him, what the Malfoys pride themselves in.

“Alright, I will go search for the toad again. Farewell, we will see each other again when we have arrived at Hogwarts,” Hermione stands up with a swish in her step, pats down her robes and waves to the group in goodbye. 

As soon as Hermione has left, Ron turns to Harry. “Whatever house I’m in, I hope she’s not in it.”

“Stop being so mean, Ronald!” Zara hisses at him, “she seems to be a nice witch!” – “Yeah, for sure. As much of a nerd as you two.” 

Zara and Alsephina roll their eyes. “Well, if you don’t have anything nice to say, we will go and change our clothes now. We’ll arrive soon!” 

Zara and Alsephina take their Hogwarts uniforms out of their cases and go to the changing room together. After they have changed, they come back to the cabin, seeing that the boys are already up and preparing to leave. They follow suite, getting their open suitcases packed and closed again, when the compartment door slides open once more. 

But this time it’s Draco. “Is it true?”, he snarls. “They’re saying all down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment. So, it’s you? Do you remember me?” – “How could he not, Didi?” Alsephina says scornfully. Draco makes a disgusted and slightly embarrassed face at his sister, “Stop calling me that stupid nickname, Alsephina! My name is Draco Malfoy, nothing more and nothing less!” 

“You don’t have to be that arrogant, DIDI” Alspehina carries on with not a care in the world for what her brother just said. 

“Anyway,” Draco catches Harry’s glance to his companions, “Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle” he says, “And my name is, as you have probably already noticed, Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.”

Ron gives a slight cough to conceal his laugh, which makes Draco look back at him with a snarl. “What’s so funny, Weasley?” 

In this moment Zara stands up, with an angry fire in her eyes. “Stop talking to my brother like that, Draco.” Draco steps back a little bit. And again, a faint smile comes over his face. 

“Say sorry, or you won’t ever be happy again in your life!” Zara hisses at him. Crabbe and Goyle chuckle, but they stop as soon as they see Zara’s piercing gaze directed at them. Alsephina can’t hold back a tiny laugh. 

“Sorry, Weasley.” Draco mumbles, like he doesn’t want to say it but also doesn’t want to anger Zara further. Zara steps back then, satisfied, and crosses her arms. All boys stare at her. She nods solemnly. “Anything else? Or are you gonna leave now?” 

Draco smiles another one of his small smiles and slightly nods his head at her. “See you later.” He has the audacity to wink at her after all this and then leaves, Crabbe and Goyle hot on his heels. 

Zara falls back on the bench with an exhausted oof, and lets the act she put on fall away. Alsephina cheers and applauds in amusement. Zara takes another second to recuperate and then shoots an angry look over at her twin brother. 

“I - I – I HISSED AT DRACO FOR YOU!” – “You didn’t have to.” Ron defends in a whisper, trying not to tick her off even more. Alsephina quips in, in support, “And anyways, he liked it, dummy, don’t act like a fool about it now.” 

“A fooooool? He acted like a fool! Why did you have to cough about how he said his name?” – “Who in this world says as you have probably already noticed, my name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. Pfft. He sounds like his father.” 

Zara grabs her head in her hands. “Donkey.”, she says a last time, defeated. The boys stand up ready to leave for the dressing room, when Ron turns to her for a second, smiling down at her in amends. “Thank you, Zara. I owe you one.” He musses up her hair with a hand and then leaves with Harry. 

“Zara, you actually rebelled against my brother! Wow!” Alsephina seems to be happy about it. Zara looks up at her. “Yeah, of course. Nobody talks to my brother like this. Except myself - of course.” 

“Obviously.” Alsephina agrees, laughing. 

While putting on their robes correctly and pulling their suitcases out of their corners to get ready, there’s a commotion outside their compartments glass door. They turn around to see Fred and George ripping the door to the side, wide grins on their faces and a sparkle in their eyes. 

“We heard you screamed at Malfoy?”, the older twins ask in unison, a little giddy, “good job little one, now everybody’s a little bit impressed by you before we even arrive at Hogwarts! You’ll continue our legacy!” 

They wink at Zara. Alsephina can’t stop staring at George’s big smile. Zara notices her, jabs her with an elbow and hopes she at least heard what they were talking about before, so she doesn’t make a fool out of herself.

“Oh, ah, yeah! Yeah, uh, she was really rough and, and mean. Real mean.” 

“Niiiice”, chorus the twins. “I’m proud, that your family is still more important to you than your little crush on him. Shows your heart’s still in the right place,” Fred murmured. 

“The Hogwarts uniform suits you well, too, by the way. Looking like two proper witches over here!” George compliments, and Alsephina’s face turns red again, while Zara thanks him.   
The boys smile once more, before Fred calls out ‘shoot, we need to get our luggage, it’s all over the place!’ and they vanish out of the open compartment door like two chased cats searching for a hiding spot. 

Alsephina waits until she’s sure the twins are out of hearing range, before she whines and buries her face in her hands. “Whhhhyyyyy!” Zara starts laughing again. It’s hilarious how similar they are when it comes to their crushes. 

“Oh, you two.” Zara says and taps Alsephina’s shoulder. 

Harry and Ron come back to their compartment a few seconds later, dressed in their uniforms. 

“That fits much better than your old clothes, Harry.” Alsephina points at the stack clothes in his hands. Harry smiles a little bit. 

“Thank you. I feel much more like myself now, too.” 

It’s getting dark outside. Zara looks out of the window at the dark purple sky. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” 

Alsephina nods, following her gaze out of the window. “Yeah. How long did we drive now? Must be nine hours or so?” 

Zara looks at the clock in the cabin, “Yes, almost.” – “'M getting a little bit tired. How long do you think the ceremony will take?” Alsephina asks. 

“I don’t know. But hopefully not too long, it's already so late.” 

A voice echoes through the train then.

“We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes’ time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.”

“Everything alright, Harry?” Zara looks at him, he has one hand lying on his stomach. 

“Yeah, just a nervous stomach.” 

“Ron, you also look like you’ve seen a ghost?” She turns to her brother, who swallows, a little pale. 

“What if I’m going to be in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff? I mean… in Slytherin I know Percy, in Gryffindor there's Fred and George, but.. In Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff I don’t know anyone.” 

“Oh Ronald.” Zara rubs her hand against her forehead, “at least you have scrabbers?” 

“Not funny, Zara, really not funny!” Ron sighs. 

They pack the last of their sweets into the many pockets of their robes and join the crowd in the train's corridor. 

The train slows down and finally stops. The prefects open up the doors and the students step outside on a tiny, dark platform. It’s very cold outside. The kids shiver a little bit. 

Then a lamp comes bobbing over the heads of the students and a large hairy man speaks to them.

“Firs'-years over here! All right there, Harry?” 

Harry nods at the man and then whispers to the group, “This is Hagrid!” 

“C’mon, follow me – any more firs’-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs-years follow me!” 

Slipping and stumbling, they follow Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It's so dark on either side of them that Zara thinks there must be a forest. 

Everybody whispers to each other. Neville sniffs once or twice. Alsephina feels sorry for him, remembering he was missing his toad before.

“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec.” Hagrid calls over his shoulder, “jus' round this bend here.” 

The students chorus. “Ohhh!” 

The narrow path has opened up on the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, is a vast castle with many turrets and towers. 

“Wow”, Zara marbles. 

“No more ’n four to a boat!” Hagrid calls, points to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Zara and Alsephina move over to one of them, followed into it by Ron and Harry. 

Zara looks over to Draco in one of the other boats, seeing a frown on his face. She tries to figure out if there’s a little bit of jealousy in his glimpse. But he looks away as soon as Zara smiles at him. 

“Everyone in?”, shouts Hagrid, who has a boat to himself, “Right then- FORWARD!” 

And the little boats move off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone is silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. 

It towers over them as they sail nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it’s standing. 

“Heads down,” Hagrid yells as the first boats reach the cliff. The little boats carry them through a thick curtain of ivy which hides a wide opening in the cliff face. 

They are floating along a dark tunnel, which seems to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reach a kind of underground harbour, where they clamber out onto rocks and pebbles. 

“Oy, you there! Is this your toad?” Hagrid says, who was checking the boats after people climbed out of them. 

“Trevor!” Neville cries blissfully, holding out his hands to receive his long lost pet.

They start clambering up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid’s lamp, coming out at last to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walk up a flight of stone steps and crowd around the huge oak front door. 

“Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?” Hagrid raises a gigantic fist and knock three times on the castle door.


	3. The Great Hall

The door swings open at once. A tall black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stands there, awaiting them. She has a very stern face, and all Zara can think about is she must be a very powerful witch. 

“The firs’-years, Professor McGonagall”, Hagrid announces with a swing of his arm and a proud smile.

“Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.” 

She pulls the door open wider. The Entrance Hall is so big, you can’t see it all at once. Fancy stone beams, statues and antique looking torches were lining the walls. There were mysterious looking doors and doorways here and there. 

Zara looks over to Alsephina, who looks as impressed as her. She grips Zara’s hand, maybe she’s afraid to lose her in this big hall between all these other first-years. Zara grabs it back, holding on tight. 

“Together!”, Zara whispers. Alsephina smiles and her gaze glides over the walls.

Alspehina is as tall as the other kids. Nobody would notice that she’s a year younger. Her hair is blond like the hair of her mother, not as white as Draco’s. A little bit darker. Her blue eyes sparkle when they catch the light. She looks so unlike Zara herself. Her hair is in unruly, flaming red curls that always fall into her face, and her brown eyes become the color of amber when they light up with excitement.

They follow Professor McGonagall across the flag stone floor, past the stone walls lit with flaming torches in between paintings and a magnificent marble staircase leading to the upper floors. Zara and Alsephina look up to the ceiling to make it out, but it's either too high or just not there. Then they look to the right side, attention caught by the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway they're passing. They can't even wonder about what lies behind the door before they're past it.

Professor McGonagall shows the first years into a small empty chamber a little further down the hall. They crowd in, standing closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously. Zara feels someone directly behind her bumping into her, snorting. 

“Friends with Potter, huh?” It’s Draco. Zara doesn't turn to him.

“Jealous, Draco?”, she whispers, without looking back. 

“Silence please,” Professor McGonagall waits for the chamber to quiet down, before starting her speech.

“Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be somewhat like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house and other students, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room. 

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin,” Alsephina presses Zara’s hand tighter, “Each house has its own noble history, and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule-breaking will lose you house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be credit to whichever house becomes yours. 

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.” 

Professor McGonagall's eyes linger for a moment on Neville’s cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron’s smudged nose. Zara lets go of Alsephina’s hand to adjust her curly hair once again just to be safe she looks at least presentable and then takes it right back. Alsephina doesn't bother. Her mother had made sure she looked as good as ever before they left for Hogwarts.

“I shall return when we are ready for you,” Professor McGonagall sums up her speech. “Please wait quietly.”

She leaves the chamber then, the door falling close behind her with a loud thump. Zara feels her heartbeat in her throat. Alsephina as well. 

“How exactly do they sort us into houses?” Harry asks Ron, a few paces next to them. Ron, rubbing his nose once again, shrugs his shoulders.

“Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking.”

“Donkey,” Zara turns to Ron, “he was joking, obviously. Don’t believe everything they say! You're too gullible.” She giggles, but goes quiet soon enough. She'll never turn down an opportunity to make fun of her twin brother, but she's a little anxious right now.

At least she's not the only one. Everyone seems to be as anxious as her, not a single word being uttered in the chamber, except for Hermione who's telling Zara and Alsephina about all the spells she’d learnt before coming here and wondering which ones she will need.

A few moments later the door reopens. “The Sorting Ceremony is about to start,” Professor McGonagall has returned. “Now form a line,” she says to the first-years, then turns back to the door, “and follow me.” 

Alsephina grabs Zara’s hand tighter. She can feel her heartbeat through their joined hands. Or maybe it's her own? 

They walk out of the chamber, back across the hall and through the pair of double doors they passed earlier, right into the Great Hall. The volume of the voices raises tenfold as soon as the doors open. The Hall is lit with thousands and thousands of candles floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students sit. The tables are laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. Here, too, is no end to the ceiling, but it looks like there are stars glimmering.

At the other end of the hall stands another long table, but unlike the other ones, horizontally. It is the table for the teachers, set with a lot less tableware and instead of benches lining it, there are old chairs with high backrests, and in the middle of them even a big golden throne. 

Professor McGonagall leads the children forward. They stand next to each other in a line, while all the older students watch them curiously from their seats at the tables. Harry meanwhile looks around and stares at the ceiling for a long few seconds, brows furrowed. 

“It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History,” Hermione whispers to Harry, proud to be sharing her wide knowledge of all things Hogwarts. Someone shushes them, though, and Hermione keeps quiet after that, miffed.

Professor McGonagall places a four-legged stool in front of the first-years, on one of the steps leading up to the teachers' table. On the chair she then puts an old leather wizard’s hat. Everyone stares at it. For a few seconds there is complete silence. Then the hat twitches to life, the creases forming a face. You can make out eyes and a mouth – and before long, the hat begins to sing: 

“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,  
But don’t judge on what you see,  
I’ll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers back,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There’s nothing bidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can’t see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong to Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong to Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you’ve a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind,  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You’ll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don’t be afraid!  
And don’t get in a flap!  
You’re in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I’m a thinking cap!” 

The whole Hall bursts into applause as the hat finishes its song. It bows to each of the four house tables and then goes quite still again. 

“So, we’ve just got to try on the hat!” Ron whispers. “I’ll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll!” Harry grins, amused, and Zara groans, “I told you, don’t believe everything they say!”

Professor McGonagall now steps forward holding a long roll of parchment. 

“When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,” she explains, holding up the roll to read off of it. “Abbott, Hannah!” 

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbles out of line to the front, puts on the hat, which falls right over her eyes, and sits down. A moment’s pause, then –

“HUFFLEPUFF!” the hat shouts.

The table to the immediate right of them cheers and claps as Hannah goes to sit down with them. McGonagall continues on without much pause.

“Bones, Susan!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!", the hat shouts again after the girl sat down with it, and Susan scuttles off to sit next to Hannah. 

“Boot, Terry!” 

“RAVENCLAW!” 

The table to the left of them claps this time. Several Ravenclaws stand up to shake hands with Terry as he joins them. 

“Brocklehurst, Mandy” gets sorted right into Ravenclaw too, then “Brown, Lavender” becomes the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far right explodes with cheers. 

Fred and George are two of the loudest, 'woo'ing and 'aye'ing long after the other Gryffindors have calmed down already. Idiots, thinks Zara, a little embarrassed that those are her brothers.

“Bulstrode, Millicent” is next in line. The Sorting Hat puts her into “SLYTHERIN!” and down she goes to the table on the far left, next to the Ravenclaw one.

“Crabbe, Vincent!” A plump boy sits down and Zara remembers him from the train ride where he flanked Draco. It doesn't surprise her that the hat didn't take long to shout, “SLYTHERIN!”

It goes on with a few other kids, under them "Finch-Fletchley, Justin", who ends up in Hufflepuff. 

Sometimes the hat needs more time, sometimes he knows it in seconds. “Finnigan, Seamus”, a boy with sandy hair who stood next to Harry sits on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declares him a Gryffindor. 

“Goyle, Gregory!” The other tall chubby boy from the train places himself on the stool. With him, too, Zara's not surprised. “SLYTHERIN!”

The process continues, the list shrinks. 

“Granger, Hermione!”

Hermione almost runs to the stool and jams the hat eagerly on her head. It takes a few seconds during which Hermione frowns, before the hat bellows, “GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron groans. Zara pinches his side. 

Neville Longbottom, the boy who lost his toad, is next. He falls over on his way to the stool. Alsephina doesn't think about it at all when she lets go of Zara and runs towards Neville to help him up, which he thanks her for in a small voice. Somewhere behind Zara, she hears Draco huff and mumble something. Zara only gets held back from turning around and berating him for it by Alsephina joining her side again, back in line, and taking her hand. 

The hat takes a long time to decide with Neville as well. Poor boy looks close to passing out all the while, until it finally shouts out, “GRYFFINDOR!”

Neville runs off, so relieved he forgets he's still wearing the hat, and has to jog back amidst gales of laughter to give it to “MacDougal, Morag”, who ends up in Slytherin.

“MacMillen, Mila.” A tall, kind of lanky girl with wavy brown hair steps forward. She sits down and places the hat on her head, wiggling back and forth as if she can't sit still because of her excitement. When the hat shouts “GRYFFINDOR” she starts to beam. 

“Malfoy, Alsephina!” 

Alsephina's heart drops into her stomach. She looks over to Zara in panic, but Zara only nods with a smile on her lips and lets go of her hand. Alsephina steps forward out of the line and Professor McGonagall holds out the hat to her. She takes it timidly, and she might have stared too long at it, because Professor McGonagall encourages her with a soft “Go on,” and a hand wave in the direction of the stool.

Alsephina takes a deep breath, puts the hat on her head and sits down on the stool.

Zara stares at her from her spot in the line, probably as anxious as Alsephina herself. She doesn't seem very comfortable up there. Everyone is silent.

The hat is stalling, it seems to be thinking. It turns to the sides, looking over to the Hufflepuff table, then to Ravenclaw, and at last Slytherin.

“Hmm,” a small voice in Alsephina’s ear hums suddenly, and she flinches, “A Malfoy, huh…” Alsephina is in shock. She didn't know the hat could talk, she hasn't heard him talk this whole time.

“Only you can hear me, don't worry. No room for anxiety. Hm. Now, where do I put you?” 

Zara still stares at Alsephina, getting more and more worried with the seconds passing. Why is it taking that much time?

“You've got your heart in the right place, loyal, just, kind. A picture-perfect Hufflepuff”, the hat ponders aloud, "But still, something seems to be holding you back, no?"

Alsephina's heart hammers in her chest, she hears it so loudly she's scared everyone else can hear it too. She almost trips over her own words as she whispers quickly, “no, please, let it be Slytherin!” 

“Slytherin, hm? There seems to be a great fear leading you to that decision.. Perhaps your father? Who knows.. But, if anything else, it should be Ravenclaw.”

“No, please! It can’t be anything else but Slytherin!”

“Hm-hm. Nothing else but Slytherin, huh.” 

Zara sees the hat nod. She has no idea what's happening. 

A hard silence makes its way into Alsephina’s mind as the hat stops talking to her. The quietness in and around here makes it even more frightening when the hat finally bellows out, “SYLTHERIN!”

Draco smiles smugly, like there was never a doubt in his mind that she wouldn't be a Slytherin. Zara swallows. She knew it. 

Alsephina seems relieved as she leaves the hat to walk over to the cheering Slytherin table, sitting down next to the other first-years that have already been sorted into their house.

“Malfoy, Draco” is next up. He walks up to the stool like he owns the world and sits down easily. And as unlike as the Malfoy siblings could've been, the hat shouts out before it even really touched Draco's head, “SLYTHERIN!”

Draco joins his table with a surefire grin. There aren’t many people left now.

“Moon”…. ”Nott” …. ”Parkinson” …. then a pair of twin girls, “Patil” and “Patil” … then “Perks, Sally-Anne” and then, “Potter, Harry!” 

Harry steps forward easily but a little self-conscious. A friendly nod from Zara gets shot his way, she can't imagine how hard it must be to be world famous without knowing who he truly is or why even.

Muttering breakes out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

“Potter, did she say?”

“The Harry Potter?”

Everyone cranes their head to have a good look at Harry. Like with Neville, Seamus and Alsephina, the hat takes its time with Harry too.

Zara sees similar emotions play out on Harry's face as she did on Alsephina's. They must have a similar struggle. She'll have to remember that. Then, the hat finally shouts, “GRYFFINDOR!”

Harry takes off the hat like a weight just lifted from his shoulders and, shaking like a leaf, walks over to the Gryffindor table to join it. Zara looks after him. 

Her older twin brothers jump up and chant loudly, “We got Potter! We got Potter!” Zara shakes her head in secondhand embarrassment. Now there are only five people left.

“Scamander, Sapphire” a thin witch with curly brown hair steps forward. Not a lot of people notice, but especially the older students start to talk. Scamander, like the author? Zara barely processes what the mumblers are talking about before the hat shouts out, “HUFFLEPUFF!”

It goes on with “Turpin, Lisa” who becomes a Ravenclaw, and then it’s Ron’s turn. He is pale green in the face by now. He looks as scared and not brave as you possibly could have, but even then, not even a second after he sits down with the hat it declares, “GRYFFINDOR!”

Zara suddenly got a spout of heavy nervousness, realizing it's her turn now. Where will the hat sort her into? 

Fred and George cheer heavily as Ron makes his way over to his house table, but focus back onto Zara quickly, excited to know what house she'll be in, if she's gonna join them in Gryffindor too.

“Weasley, Zara!”

Zara takes a deep breath and walks forward. She accepts the hat from Professor McGonagall, places it on her head and sits down. She feels like she'll disappoint her brothers.

“Another Weasley?” the hat whispers into her ear, "Two pairs of twins in a row, your mother must be a very lucky woman. At least you're not as, mhm, unruly as your older brothers. Now, where do I put you?” 

Zara's heart pounds. Now she knows what happens when the hat takes a longer time to sort people, but she doesn't know if she likes this more than just getting her house called out immediately.

The hat starts to mumble, “I see a lot of willpower in you. Little bit stubborn too, huh? But there's something else. Hmm…” 

Then silence. A dead silence.

“SLYTHERIN!”

Zara needs a moment to realize what just happened. 

She doesn't dare look at the Gryffindor table as she takes down the hat and walks over to the hesitantly clapping Slytherins. Only when she sits down next to Alsephina does she look over to Ron, next to Harry and their older twin brothers. They don’t seem to be that happy. Fred and George are pouting overly dramatic, putting their hands against their foreheads and leaning against each other theatrically. Ron simply frowns, with such an honest, upset expression that it hurts Zara a little bit. 

She has to look away.

Instead she looks at her new house, her new (and old) friends, the people she'll spend the next few years with. Alsephina smiles from one ear to the other, and Percy cheers. He seems happy about not being the only Weasley in Slytherin anymore. And then she catches the eyes of Draco, too, a few seats over, between his other friends. 

He has this faint smile on his face again. Zara furrows her brows. He always smiles this faint smile when he looks at her, and she can't really categorize it. Is he patronizing her? 

When she isn't looking, George turns to look at Zara. He's a little sad his favorite sister isn't in Gryffindor with them, but he kind of saw it coming. And at least she's with Alsephina this way. Thinking of her, he looks over to Zara’s right, where the little Malfoy girl sits, and he lifts the corner of his mouth up in a small smile, then presses his lips together when he realizes what he's doing and turns away again. 

Zara doesn’t know how to feel now. She’s happy to be in one house with her best friend and at least one of her brothers, but somehow, she still feels like a traitor. Like she's a bad person for ending up in Slytherin. Gosh darn, Ron. Slytherins aren’t bad, donkey.

She shakes her bad thoughts away and turns to Alsephina instead. She focuses on the happiness and relief she feels to be together in a house with her. 

While they were all busy wallowing in their thoughts, the last boy “Zabini, Blaise” was sorted into Slytherin as well.

Professor McGonagall ends the Sorting unceremoniously, rolling up her scroll efficiently and taking the Sorting Hat plus the stool away. Albus Dumbledore gets on his feet instead, taking over for now. He is beaming at the students, his arms open wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than seeing them all there.

“Welcome!” he announces, “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!”

He sits back down. Everybody claps and cheers, the first-years a little more hesitant than the older students.

“Is that – is that normal behavior for him?” Alsephina asks Zara about the same time as Harry asks Ron if Dumbledore is a bit mad a few tables over at the Gryffindor's. 

“Normal?” says Zara airily. “He’s a genius! Best wizard in the world! But that is his normal behavior, yes.” 

(Ron tells Harry something quite similar.)

As soon as Dumbledore sits back, the tables fill with food. Zara’s eyes brighten up, she looks at Alsephina and Alsephina looks back at her with a wide-open mouth.

“Who will eat that much food?” Alsephina wonders, overwhelmed, as Zara looks over to Ron and starts laughing. Ron has his whole plate piled with food already. 

“Ron, I swear, look at him!” 

Alsephina stands up a little to look over to Ron, and when she sees his plate, she laughs as well. She sits back down quickly and stares at the food, a little overwhelmed still with all the options: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, corn, ketchup and for some strange reason, mint humbugs. She's used to big meals from her family and Dobby cooking for them, but it's never been this excessive.

Zara turns to Percy, unsure of what to take for dinner. “Will we get this kind of food everyday?”

Percy nods, already pulling plates closer and putting food on his own plate, “Yes, the dinner will always be as big as this. Wait ‘till you see the desserts!”

“For real?” Zara raises both eyebrows. They're a big family, there's always enough food at home at the burrow to get everyone full, but she's never had so much food in front of her. She is a little in shock. 

“Potatoes, Zara?” Percy asks her as if this is the most normal thing in the world, and she nods hesitantly, taking some.

As she reaches over to take a corncob from one of the plates, a head comes out of the table. She screams a little bit, spooked, and Draco howls in laughter a few seats over. There’s a Ghost. Right in front of her, just like that. He floats up out of the table fully, bowing slightly with his feet just barely above the food.

“May I introduce myself? The bloody Baron. Pleased to meet all you new Slytherins.”

“What a – charming name, Sir.” Zara replies, a little confused.

“He’s our house ghost,” Percy explains, leaning over a little bit.

Alspehina, also in shock, asks, “Why, why bloody?”

The bloody Baron sighs dramatically. “I killed my loved one in a fit of misplaced rage. When I realized what I had done, I regretted it so much, I had to kill myself.”

Both girls raise their eyebrows, “Oh – that's - that's.. unfortunate.” Zara murmurs, and Alsephina nods heartily. "I'm so sorry!"

The bloody Baron thanks them for their empathy, then floats away over the table to personally welcome other first-year Slytherins as well.

Alsephina huffs loudly, putting a hand against her own chest. “Hopefully we don’t get killed because of love!” She seems concerned at first, but ends in a fit of giggles. Zara giggles back, then turns to Percy again. “Percy, who are the other house ghosts?”

Percy, picture-perfect prefect as always, is pleased to explain and offer information. “Gryffindor has Nearly headless Nick, but he prefers Sir Nicholas. Ravenclaw’s house ghost is The Grey Lady. And Hufflepuffs is The Fat Friar.”

Zara nods, lost in thought as he watches around the Great Hall as the other ghosts float around their house tables. She can recognize who each of them is just by their names. They're very distinct.

Alsephina 'ahh's. “Okay, interesting! Thanks for the info, Percy!”

As soon as all students finish their meal, the food fades away and the dessert appears in its stead. Alsephina starts laughing out of happiness, clapping her hands and doing a little dance. Both girls love dessert. In front of them are blocks of ice-cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding…. 

“Excuse me, can you give us those chocolate covered strawberries over there?” Alsephina asks in the direction of a brown-haired girl two seats next to them. Zara nods and adds, “And those apple pies too, please?”

“Of course,” the girl responds, “I’m Daphne, by the way!”

“Hi Daphne,” replies Zara “I’m Zara.” – “And I’m Alsephina! Nice to meet you!”

“And I’m Blaise, thanks for asking.” The boy in the seat between Daphne and Zara throws into the conversation, very dry. Zara feels caught, hand pulling back from where she had it reached out to take the strawberries from Daphne, and blushes.

“I’m sorry for not asking. Nice to meet you, Blaise.”

Blaise waves his hand in dismissal, immediately forgetting about it and turning to them with his full attention. “You two seem to know each other well?” he asks, eager to know.

“Yes, we've known each other for years, since we were small. Draco as well, the grinch over there.” Zara nods her head in Draco’s direction.

Blaise looks over shortly, then back to them. "Right, you're a Malfoy too, look like it. Are you twins?"

“No, actually, he’s my older brother.” Alspehina explains, munching on one of the strawberries.

“Older?” Daphne leans forward onto the table to see past Blaise, frowning.

“Yeah, we're all in the same year, shouldn't you both be the same age?” Blaise agrees.

“Oh.. well, that makes sense, but no, I’m a year younger. For some reason I got my letter early.” Alsephina taps her fingers against her lips in wonder.

“Do you know why?” Daphne looks at her with big, eager eyes.

Alsephina shrugs, taking another strawberry. “No, not really.”

“She’s special. Father made sure she got the appropriate treatment,” Draco drops into their conversation with a sarcastic tone and a lifted chin. His arms are crossed, like he disapproves.

Zara shoots the same look at him she gave him when he acted out in the train. He immediately goes quiet again, turning away and busying himself with something else than eavesdropping. Good for you, Draco.

She knows he can be a total sweetheart when he wants to be. She remembers a few times when they were alone out of pure luck, where he was the biggest gentleman on earth. In Zara’s mind he will always be this kind of guy, that's how she got to know him as and first impressions always stay. She's sure he's only acting this tough and superior, because he’s also afraid of his dad and wants to uphold the Malfoy's reputation, as much as Alsephina does.

The conversation is pretty much dead after Draco's dissent, and so they continue eating their desserts in silence.

Eventually, the last remains of the sweets, fruits and ice creams disappear, and Professor Dumbledore gets to his feet once again. The Hall goes quiet quickly.

“Ahem – just a few more words now that we're all fed and watered. I'd like a few of our older students to remember the next words as well.” Dumbledore’s twinkling eyes flash in the direction of the older Weasley twins. 

“I have been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between the classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.”

Zara sees Harry laughing. He’s not the only one. Alsephina looks over to Percy, “He’s serious?”

“Must be,” Percy mumbles, frowning at Dumbledore. “It’s odd, usually he gives us a reason why we’re not allowed to go somewhere – the forest is full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I would've thought he would have told us Prefects, at least.”

“And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!” Dumbledore announces celebratory. He gives his wand a little flick as if he was trying to get a fly off the end and a long golden ribbon flies out of it, which rises high above the tables and twists itself snake-like into words.

“Everyone pick their favorite tune,” says Dumbledore, “and off we go!”

And the whole school, wholly out of tune and everyone in a different melody, bellows: 

“Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they’re bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us thing worth knowing,  
Bring back what we’ve forgot,  
Just do your best, we’ll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot.” 

Everybody finishes the song at different times. At last, only Zara’s older twin brothers are left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducts their last few lines with his wand, until they finally finish. Dumbledore is one of those who clap the loudest.

“Ah, music,” he sighs dreamily, wiping his eyes. “A magic beyond anything we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!” 

Percy stands up, immediately, wanting to prepare for his tasks as prefect.

“Percy!” Zara calls out quickly, panicked, “Can I go say goodnight to Ron? It will be the first night where we’re not sleeping in the same room..”

“Go fast.” Percy replies with a strict voice, trying not to let it show that he obviously understands his little sister. He felt similarly when Charlie first went off to Hogwarts and he had no one to crawl into bed with anymore when he couldn't sleep. Not to mention when he himself got into Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin as the only one in his family for a few long years.

Zara nods harshly, almost tipping over the sitting bench as she stands up and runs over to Ron.

Ron seemed to have the same idea and comes straight at her. They meet halfway in the middle of the hall and fall into each other's arms. Ron whispers, “No more sleeping together. I'll miss your nagging and you throwing pillows at me.”

“Donkey! I'll miss your snoring. Sleep well, yeah?” Ron nods against Zara's shoulder, his chin juts into it. 

“You too, okay?” 

Zara hugs him a little closer. Ron moves away a little to look at her, eyebrows furrowed and a regretful frown on his mouth. “I'm sorry for saying that Slytherins are bad. You’re not bad. You’re a good witch. See you tomorrow.”

Zara nods, stunned, and with that Ron leaves her, going back to Fred, George, Harry and Hermione to follow after their prefect.

Zara needs a moment to recuperate, she feels a little overwhelmed. Ron and her usually aren't that nice with each other, so any time it happens it makes her heart squeeze. With tears in her eyes she goes back to Alsephina to join their group.

“Is everything alright?” Alsephina asks her immediately, even though she knows nothing's right. It must be very difficult for Zara to be separated permanently from her twin for the very first time.

“Ah, yeah. Everything's alright.” Zara answers quickly, sniffling a little. Alsephina turns her head a little to the side with her eyes straight on Zara. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, absolutely.” 

Alsephina can't say anything against that. If Zara doesn't want to talk she won't push her. So, quietly, they start following Percy through the castle. 

They walk down corridors and staircases, down to the dungeons, where the Slytherin common room is. Ron and the rest went in the opposite direction in the halls, in the direction of the upstair staircases.

Alsephina grabs Zara’s hand in silent support in their way. She knows she’s not alright, even when she says so. Zara grabs it back and a little smile hushes over her face. She’s thankful for a friend like Alsephina.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if you end up marrying each other, with how much you hold hands. Maybe start snogging too, why don't you,” Draco hisses from behind them.

“Oh, wouldn't you be jealous then, Didi?” Alsephina hisses back, trying to make fun of him. “Pff,” Draco presses out between his lips, but doesn't say anything else.

“No dawdling!” Percy says from ahead. “It’s right here.” Percy makes a hand move to the front. Zara lifts her head to see better, but there are too many kids in front of them.

“Are you as nervous as me?” Blaise suddenly asks from the side, having pushed his way closer to them after they had lost each other in the group of students all following Percy.

Alsephina shakes her head from side to side, laughing a little. “No, not really!” Zara knows she wants to play it cool, not trying to seem childish. She doesn’t want the others to think she’s too little to be in the same year as them.

“I’m a little bit nervous,” Zara admits instead, trying to make it a little easier on her best friend. Alsephina squeezes her hand a little.

Blaise hums, agreeing. “The boy you hugged in the Great Hall, that was your twin brother, right?”

Zara groans dramatically, then laughs. “Yes, my annoying little twin brother. I’m a minute older than him!”

“Are you the only Slytherin in your family?” He seems a little bit curious. Zara wonders why.

“No, Percy, our prefect,” Zara points at her brother in the front, “he’s also a Slytherin, obviously.”

“Oh, he’s your brother too? How many siblings do you have?”

“A whole Quidditch team, basically,” Draco says under his breath, still eavesdropping.

“Stop it, Didi.” Alsephina turns around and reprimands him. She doesn't do it often and she doesn't like to do it either, so she hopes this will do.

They stop in front of a wall. Percy says the password, “pureblood,” and a shiver overcomes Zara as the first students file in through the passage opening up.

“Isn’t that a little rude?” She turns to Blaise next to her.

“Why?”

“I mean, not all Slytherins are purebloods, are they? Why make the password something that excludes some people?” She wonders with a confused look on her face.

“Hm, I dunno. But I don’t think that it's rude, it's just a password.”

They follow the other students through the doorway then, into a big room, full of sofas, armchairs, tables and bookcases. It has high stonewalls and the ambience is kinda rustical. The light even has a green shine.

“Wow, the light is really unexpected. Very, uh, in theme with the Slytherin colors.” Alsephina giggles.

“I love it!” Zara gives Alsephina a happy glance and a bump of their shoulders. 

Percy turns to them, holding out an arm to point to the high ceiling. “This is your common room. You can play games in this room, do your homework or meet your classmates and friends. This will be where you spend most of your free time aside from school. There’s also the library to study and Hogsmeade to visit, but Hogsmeade is only available to third years and above, so don’t even think about it. Hogsmeade visits are checked, so no sneaking on there either.” He looks at his little sister specifically, who immediately looks away with a grin.

“That’s so sad. I’ve heard so many good things about Hogsmeade already. I wanna see it!” Alsephina pouts, and Draco huffs. She and Zara turn to him, and he looks pleased to have caught their attention again. He grins. “You didn’t hear anything about it, little liar. How would you even, you’re a year younger than all of us!”

That gets the attention of the people around them. They turn to them to watch the commotion, starting to whisper around them. Alsephina gets self-conscious instantly, looking around anxiously and crossing her arms. Zara notices quickly enough and tries to defuse the situation. 

“From – from my brothers, obviously! Unlike you, Alsephina at least is nice enough to have conversations with my family whenever she’s over! My brothers talk about Hogsmeade all the time.”

The crowd around them turns away again, not interested anymore. Zara still hears “a year younger?” or “what is she doing here already?” around them here and there, but Alsephina’s not listening anymore. She’s still looking at Draco, with a hurt expression. 

She steps closer to him and looks him in the eyes. Draco’s smile falters. “Why? Why are you so mean to me? I didn’t do anything to you.”

Draco stammers, shocked. “Ah, Alsephina, I didn’t mean – “ 

“Your dorm rooms are separated into boys and girls rooms, with four persons each. Your names are on the signs next to the doors, your luggage is already in the rooms,” Percy keeps on explaining, not paying much attention to the situation that just happened, “girls, please go this way to the dorm rooms, boys, this way please.”

“Let’s go, Zara. I don’t have anything to say anymore. Apparently being excited is too much for The Draco Malfoy, even when it’s his little sister,” she hisses the last part, then turns to her best friend and takes her hand. “Let’s see if they put us in the same dorm room.”

She pulls Zara away with her, in the direction of the girls’ dorm. Zara looks back at Draco with a mixed expression, both worried and angry. Draco tries stopping them, but Alsephina doesn’t listen to his calls, stoically pulling Zara farther away from him, down the stairs to the girl’s rooms.

There aren’t many first year dorm rooms. They walk past the rooms, scanning the name signs for each of them. For one of them they read familiar names; Bullstrode and Parkinson. Their names aren’t on there with them. They go past one other room before arriving at theirs. Weasley, Malfoy, Greengrass, Perks. 

Alsephina sighs, relieved. “We’re in a room with Daphne! That’s so lucky. I think it’ll be a good time with her. I don’t know Sally-Anne yet, but hopefully she’s nice too.” 

Zara hums in agreement and opens the door to the room. The other two girls are already at their beds, unpacking their suitcases and putting their pet cages around the room. Daphne waves at them, and Sally-Anne smiles shily. 

“I was so glad when I saw we share a room! I think it’ll be a very nice few years!” she calls out, going back to refolding her robes and clothing to put it in her wardrobe. Alsephina laughs and goes over to her own luggage, already standing next to one of the beds. 

“That’s exactly what I just said!”

Zara watches over them, as they start off a conversation about school and what they hope for in the next few days. She agrees silently, smiling brightly, yes, this is gonna be a nice few years together.

They all finish unpacking quickly and get ready for bed soon after. It is pretty late already, and they’re all tired from the long journey and eventful day.

The beds have long, wallowing curtains all around the bedposts, to give each of them some privacy. But when Zara closes hers and lies down for the night, she doesn’t feel very private, or comfortable even. It’s so – so dark. And quiet. And kind of cold, also small. There’s no moonlight shining in from the open window where Ron always forgets to close the blinds, and there’s no rustling or snoring of his. The bedsheets feel different too, nothing like the warm, worn-out sheets they have at home. There’s no – there’s no – 

No Ron. 

For the first time in her life, there’s no Ron by her side. He’s always there, and even if he isn’t, he’s at least somewhere around the house, she always knows where he’s at. But now, he’s at the Gryffindor dorms. Zara doesn’t even know where the Gryffindor dorms are. She’s never not known where her family members are, that’s what their “Where is”-Clock was for.

She doesn’t know anything anymore. She feels lonely. 

She tosses and turns, but no matter how hard she tries, she can’t get herself to fall asleep. It feels like hours have passed, when her curtains rustle and move aside a bit to let a head peak through. She turns around to look at the intruder.

“Zara, can you sleep?” It’s Alsephina. Zara relaxes and shakes her head no. 

“Me neither. I think I’m too excited, my mind can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened today! There was just so much.”

“I’m missing Ron,” Zara admits finally, tears springing into her eyes together with the words leaving her mouth.

“Oh no, the donkey, huh?” Alsephina replies softly, trying to cheer her up a little with the nickname she always gives him. It sadly doesn't work too well.

“Can we walk around for a bit?” Zara asks then, a little hesitant. Alsephina nods, and Zara wastes no time getting up and out of bed.

They try to be very quiet. Up the stairs, into the common room, sitting down in front of the fireplace.

They don’t say a word. They just sit there and look at the small fire, crackling away with the last remains of the flames, not having been stoked since bedtime.

Zara looks at the passageway leading out of the common room longingly, thinking deeply. Alsephina doesn't say anything, knowing Zara will get there eventually and asking questions won't help. She lets her sort her thoughts.

“Do you wanna sneak out and look around the castle?”

Alsephina’s eyes go wide, first in surprise then in excitement. “Absolutely!”

They get up from their spot, cleaning up everything how it was before they came along, and tiptoe over to the door. From the inside they can get out without saying the password, which makes the chances of getting caught because they were too loud a little slimmer, at least. They open the door slowly, scared it would maybe creak like an old door, but it doesn't. They only open it far enough to pass through, letting it fall close softly with the help of their fingertips holding the weight. 

Now, standing outside of the common room in the dungeons, it’s kinda dark, and also a little damp in the air. Apparently all the torches get blown out for bedtime, or their enchanted. Zara takes out her wand and tries a spell she's heard her brothers say countless times, whenever it was dark and they still had mischief to manage. She whispers “lumos” and does a flick of her want that she thinks she remembers them doing.

With a soft flickering, the tip of her wand blooms with a soft, round blue tinted light.

“Oh my god, Zara! You used a spell, just like that!” Alsephina claps her hands softly, still trying to be quiet, and jumps a little up and down in excitement. Zara beams, leading them forward now that they could see where to step.

They follow the staircase upstairs, minding their steps. Zara points her wand at a wall in curiosity, and is immediately greeted with a disgruntled lord. “Take it off my face, stupid child!” he hisses at her, squinting his eyes. Zara looks to the side in panic, and Alsephina stands stockstill. “We are trying to sleep here!”

“Oof,” Alsephina sighs, relaxing a little. It’s just a painting. Not a teacher, not a prefect. “Sorry,” she singsongs in her cutest voice to appease the tired painting and Zara nods, taking away her wand from the wall.

“Where do you think the Gryffindor common room is, Phina?”

“Zara, we would need the Gryffindor's password to get in.”

“I don’t want to get in, I just wanna know where it is, to know where Ron is.” 

“It’s on the seventh floor of the Gryffindor Tower," the portrait takes pity on then and groans out, "now please take your light and your little conversation to somewhere else, you little menaces! We trying to sleep over here.” 

“Oh, yeah, of course, I’m sorry, again.” Zara decides to just put her wand completely away in her cloak, since there is moonlight shining in through the windows up here anyway. “Let’s go!”

“To the seventh floor of the tower without getting discovered?”

“Come on, Phina, please!” 

Alsephina looks down the stairs back to where their common room waits for them, thinking it over for a second. Then she shrugs and decides to follow Zara upstairs. Whatever, they already went so far, might as well go all the way. 

They retrace the way back that they took earlier to get to their common room, coming across the big hallway that also leads to the Great Hall.

They sneak around the corner to the grand staircases, looking if somebody is there, but there’s no one. Zara looks up and counts the floors, trying to plan their way ahead. Okay, seventh floor, let’s go!

They start hurrying up the stairs, coming as far as the third floor, when they have to stop in their tracks. There's a voice. Someone is talking to somebody. But the girls can’t understand what they’re talking about, only barely hearing the drone of the voices because it's so quiet at night time.

All they get to hear are phrases and pieces of words now and then, “….ph……..stone……….”

“Stone? What kind of stone is so important to talk about in the middle of the night?” Alsephina whispers to Zara, wholly confused.

“A very important one,” Zara giggles.

“Shhh!” The voices die off and instead they hear footsteps, so they hide behind the railing of the staircase they're on, hoping whoever it is won't come their way.

Alsephina peaks through the empty space in the railing and watches someone walk away on a floor above them. “It’s the strange Professor with the turban.”

“Huh. Kinda curious, do you see someone else?”

Alsephina shakes her head, still watching him walk. It seems as if the Professor is still talking to someone. But there’s no one else.

The Professor vanishes behind a corner. The girls wait a few seconds longer until everything's clear, then get up and continue on their trek upstairs. This time around they're even more careful than before, now that they know there's actually people walking around at this time. After a few agonizingly long minutes of sneaking, they finally arrive at the seventh floor. 

“So, where is it?” Zara looks down the Hallway, searching. She realizes how stupid that is pretty quickly. Their common room is hidden away too, the Gryffindor's probably as well. As if there would be a big sign reading “GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM”.

Alsephina started to feel sleepy on their long hike up the stairs, and by now is already way too tired to keep on searching for much longer. She takes the easy way out, putting her bet on kindness, and turns to a portrait on the wall next to them. “Excuse me, I know it's late and you probably want to sleep, but can you maybe tell us where the Gryffindor common room is?”

The portrait looks about as sleepy as they probably do, but she looks at them with scrutinizing, analytical eyes anyway. “You’re a Slytherin, why do you wanna know?” the portrait asks instead.

Alsephina is too tired to beat around the bush. “Because this is my best friend Zara Weasley and her twin brother Ron is in Gryffindor, and she will not be able to sleep until she knows where her dumb brother sleeps!” 

The woman in the portrait looks over to Zara who’s standing there, still looking for a door, or a sign, or anything else, really.

“Oh, angel. It’s alright, it's right here. I’m the door for the Gryffindor common room, actually. May I introduce myself: The Fat Lady.”

“Oh, nice to meet you then.” The girl’s wave at the Portrait. That feels a little bit odd. Zara steps forward, looking at the Fat Lady in gratitude. “So my brother sleeps behind you. Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome, darling. But that's really all I can tell you, I can't let you in. Now you have to go to bed, it's really late and I don't want you getting caught on your first night.”

The girls nod their heads yes, promising that's all they wanted to know and they're going to go back to their own common room now.

They run down the stairs a little less careful now, just wanting to get back as quickly as possible. Only before the big platform that leads to the Great Hall they slow down to see if there’s a teacher or a prefect. They listen very hard for a few seconds, but can’t hear anything. So onwards they go.

They run the last steps down, making their way across the long main corridor without much problem. Only right before the stairs to their common room they hear steps. 

Zara thinks way quicker than Alsephina could with how sleepy she is, pulling them behind one of the stone pillars into hiding. There's a little alcove right behind it too, so they're lucky, they can't be seen at all. Holding their breath anyway, they stare at each other while listening and waiting for the steps to disappear. They both feel their hearts throbbing. The footsteps draw nearer at first, and for a second Zara thinks they're done for, they got found out, this is it, but then they start to grow quieter and eventually clear away. 

They give it a few more seconds just to be sure, and then look carefully around the edge of the pillar. Nothing to see, nothing to hear. 

It's been too close of a call to many times for one night. Zara looks over to Alspehina and nods at her. They can't risk getting caught now, and it's not much way back down anymore, so they both start running to the stairs, hurrying down and then up to the wall that hides their common room door.

“Pureblood.” Zara wheezes out and the door opens up without any qualms. They stumble inside, make their way over to the girls dorms quickly and then, finally in front of their own room door, they start laughing. Not loudly, they don’t want to wake up anyone else or alert someone who might be keeping check around here.

They sneak into their room quietly after they calmed down enough. The other two girls are still asleep, it's quiet and safe. Zara and Alsephina tiptoe over to their beds, pulling the curtains to the side to  
“Good night, Zara.”  
“Good night, Phina.”


End file.
